Forgotten downtown on way up

Growing local culture good news for those weary of Strip

Updated 2:25 pm, Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The neon signs that once represented the kitsch of old Las Vegas are now permanent public art in the downtown, including along Fremont Street East.

The neon signs that once represented the kitsch of old Las Vegas are now permanent public art in the downtown, including along Fremont Street East.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Part of the makeover at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino includes a display of vintage slot machines in the revamped lobby.

Part of the makeover at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino includes a display of vintage slot machines in the revamped lobby.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The closest thing to a downtown boutique hotel is the El Cortez Cabana Suites, across the street from the original El Cortez.

The closest thing to a downtown boutique hotel is the El Cortez Cabana Suites, across the street from the original El Cortez.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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This display is in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal courthouse.

This display is in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal courthouse.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Rock shrimp tacos at Mundo restaurant in the World Market Center, part of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts complex.

Rock shrimp tacos at Mundo restaurant in the World Market Center, part of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts complex.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Display in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal court house.

Display in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal court house.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The revamped Golden Gate, the oldest hotel in Las Vegas, has opened a handful of chic suites.

The revamped Golden Gate, the oldest hotel in Las Vegas, has opened a handful of chic suites.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The Frank Gehry-designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health faces the new Las Vegas Design Center, well removed from the Strip.

The Frank Gehry-designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health faces the new Las Vegas Design Center, well removed from the Strip.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The whiskey case at Bar + Bistro, the restaurant and lounge that are part of the Arts Factory.

The whiskey case at Bar + Bistro, the restaurant and lounge that are part of the Arts Factory.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The Golden Gate has renovated its lobby, included touches of history.

The Golden Gate has renovated its lobby, included touches of history.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The new World Market Center, part of a complex that includes the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Discovery Children's Museum.

The new World Market Center, part of a complex that includes the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Discovery Children's Museum.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The newly opened Smith Center, geared more toward performing arts and entertainment for Las Vegas residents than for tourists, is a modern nod to art deco.

The newly opened Smith Center, geared more toward performing arts and entertainment for Las Vegas residents than for tourists, is a modern nod to art deco.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Display in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal court house.

Display in the relatively new Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which is housed in the former federal court house.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Patio seating at Bar + Bistro, the restaurant and lounge that are part of the Arts Factory in the blossoming Las Vegas arts district called 18b.

Patio seating at Bar + Bistro, the restaurant and lounge that are part of the Arts Factory in the blossoming Las Vegas arts district called 18b.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The Frank Gehry-designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health faces the new Las Vegas Design Center, well removed from the chaos of the Strip.

The Frank Gehry-designed Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health faces the new Las Vegas Design Center, well removed from the chaos of the Strip.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health was designed by architect Frank Gehry, who said he wanted to build something in Las Vegas away from the chaos of the Strip.

The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health was designed by architect Frank Gehry, who said he wanted to build something in Las Vegas away from the chaos of the Strip.

Photo: Spud Hilton, SFC

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Forgotten downtown on way up

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It was difficult to think of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro - or anyone nicknamed for an insect - as being a sure sign of culture, sophistication and revitalization.

But there he was, murdered, in a ditch, in a grainy oversize photo on display in the new National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement - arguably the first nationally recognized cultural attraction in, well, the city's history. (And no, endless shows with French Canadian mimes and Ukrainian acrobats in rubber masks don't count.)

The Ant and his gumbah buddies aren't alone. The museum (a.k.a. the Mob Museum) is just the latest, most visible development in a slowly building extreme makeover and cultural renewal of Las Vegas' downtown, long the beleaguered, cast-off sibling to the city's theme-park Strip.

And it's not just about tourists.

Unlike previous attempts to revive downtown, this is as much about residents - local-arts districts, entertainment geared for locals and hip nightlife not designed and subsidized by casino corporations.

It was time to find out if a city that has always existed for the benefit of visitors is finally building a culture to call its own, and if this new side to Vegas - in what some are calling the "new metropolitan center of Las Vegas" - makes it more viable for those who currently see Sin City as a black hole for art and creativity.

Entertaining outsiders

Since its founding more than a century ago - a dusty rest stop along an even dustier road that provided liquor, women and games of chance - Las Vegas has existed solely to entertain outsiders.

As is often the case in tourist-centric cities, it's difficult to generate community and local culture, in part because, frankly, there's no easy money in it. (A few locals told me the same is true for them, that most of the population likely came here for financial opportunity - and never planned to stay long enough to invest in the community.)

Standing at the north entrance to the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, however, I could see that someone was ready to invest in community. The decidedly Art Deco Smith Center is stately - almost to the point of being intentionally drab compared with the town's usual attention-deficit architecture. It was not built for catching the eyes of tourists.

Instead of showgirls and celebrity showcases, the Smith Center's schedule is filled with full-scale Broadway productions (most of the season passes for the 2012-13 Broadway series are sold out), and a Jazz Roots series featuring artists not typically associated with Las Vegas stages. It also is home to resident companies of the Nevada Ballet Theatre and the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

I wandered from there to the new Las Vegas Design Center, where most of the showrooms are still waiting for occupants, but I wasn't there to pick out wallpaper or a sofa. Inside the center's courtyard is Mundo, a self-described "Latin chic" restaurant that was full at lunchtime on a weekday, despite being removed from most business and tourist traffic. The staff served hearty, fusion versions of traditional dishes (rock shrimp tacos, short rib tamale, skirt steak enchiladas) to what appeared to be a mostly local crowd.

Eventually, Symphony Park will fill with upscale condos, the World Jewelry Center and a casino hotel, but for now it's a work in progress.

Arts Factory

It made perfect sense when Alysia the bartender handed me her card and it said, "Fire Performer."

The bar portion of Bar + Bistro is an appropriately eclectic corner of the Arts Factory where ordinary cocktails are unthinkable and on most nights the bar and restaurant attract a clientele more interested in Burning Man than the Bellagio fountains.

The melange of modern couches, wild murals, framed art and antique hutches filled with a staggering selection of distilled spirits makes the lounge an apt companion to the adjacent Bistro (Latin fusion with 20 other twists) and the Arts Factory, a two-story collection of gallery spaces that anchors the 18b Las Vegas Arts District.

The 32,000-square-foot building, once an industrial warehouse in an unremarkable neighborhood, now houses more than 20 "art-related tenants," and has become a meeting point for art classes, poetry readings and avant-garde theatrical productions - none of which is likely to get its own theater on the Strip anytime soon.

The surrounding 18b arts district, a loosely connected mix of galleries, studios and art-related boutiques, is gaining popularity, in part because of First Fridays, a combination gallery walk and outdoor art festival on the first Friday of each month.

If nothing else, 18b and the Arts Factory - and Alysia's hyper-complex cocktails - are a respite from Las Vegas' better-known glitz-based attractions on the Strip.

Old hotels change

Oddly, what little exists of downtown lodging that could be called "boutique" or "sophisticated" is an outgrowth of two of the city's oldest hotels: the Golden Gate (Vegas' first, built in 1906); and the El Cortez Cabana Suites, a dramatically renovated stand-alone hotel across the street from the parent El Cortez (co-owned by Bugsy Seigel in the 1940s).

The "cabana" name is a bit of a misnomer - there is no pool. Nor much of anything else beyond the vibrant and whimsical rooms, a business center and the design-whirlwind of a lobby. (Much of the look is the product of a Las Vegas Design Center contest.)

Over at the Golden Gate, a hotel better known for the beloved "99-cent" shrimp cocktails (the price went up a few years back), crews have been quietly installing a set of luxury suites with the sensibility of a JW Marriott - a stark contrast to the casino's billion-bulb signs and banks of slots that face onto the Fremont Street Experience. At the same time, the hotel has been rolling out a revamped, chic lobby, reception area and high-roller card room. (A spokeswoman said the cafe with the famous shrimp cocktails will return, but in a more contemporary setting.)

When the Fremont Experience canopy light show debuted in 1995, the idea had been to attempt to match the Strip's glitz with an over-the-top (literally) attraction, while Fremont Street turned into a Sin City sister to touristy Bourbon Street in New Orleans. What developed with a lot less effort (and fewer yard-long beers) has been the Fremont East District, a three-block stretch of Fremont Street and its side streets, that were revamped starting in 2007 to be a pedestrian-friendly entertainment district.

Among the highlights are: Insert Coins, a "video lounge game bar" for hipsters, equipped with private booths and video games from new to old school; the shadowy Downtown Cocktail Room; several live music venues; the Emergency Arts building, an art incubator with studio and display space, and a coffee shop popular for readings and communities meetings; and the Neon Museum, a trail of stand-alone vintage neon signs that winds through the district and into the Fremont Street Experience.

The vibe along Fremont East is a 180-degree departure from the theme park just the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard, and it's likely to continue that way as online shoe retailer Zappos.com moves its headquarters into the nearby former Las Vegas City Hall. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has been heading up the Downtown Project, which is putting $350 million into revitalizing the area to "to create a vibrant, connected urban core," according to the project's website, including $100 million for small businesses and tech startups.

Among the probable results from the revitalization: Visitors escaping the crush of humanity along the Strip will end up downtown. When locals want to go there, so do visitors.

Mobster minded

While the Mob Museum is the most visible piece of the downtown area referred to as Downtown 3rd, it won't be for long.

Casino and entertainment company Fifth Street Gaming is planning to renovate the defunct Lady Luck Hotel and Casino - to open as the Downtown Grand Casino & Hotel in 2013 - and also to develop the surrounding blocks with shops and 18 restaurants and bars to create the city's "first authentic metropolitan pedestrian destination," according to the company's website.

Among the pieces already in place are the indoor Friday Farmers Market, and the Triple George Grill and adjacent Mob Bar.

The Triple George is a booth-heavy, old school steak house with mob-era touches; the steak was excellent, although definitely at tourist prices. The Mob Bar next door had inventive bartenders and a smaller menu, although the food comes from the same kitchen.

In preparation for the Mob Museum, I grabbed a Reuben on marble rye at the Mob Bar, knowing that the museum's exhibition takes up 17,000 square feet of the former federal courthouse and post office - and that touring it might take most of the day.

After a couple hours of being shocked, entertained and amazed at the thoroughness of the information about organized crime, from the origins through present day, as well as the creative methods of displaying it, I was ready to sleep with the fishes.

Real museums - beyond the touristy wax museum mold - are a sign of sophistication in the local culture, and this one was a far cry from "Mob Museum" I saw 10 years ago, a sad corner of the gift shop at the Tropicana Hotel with a few pictures of Sinatra and Marlon Brando from "The Godfather."

Combined with other developments here, the downtown is rapidly becoming a destination of its own - for locals and visitors - and odds are that attraction is going to increase in the coming years.

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